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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

Are you Hungry? Many of us experience a physical hungry feeling in our lives when we wake up on the morning or when we have waited too long to eat lunch because we have been busy. But that is not the kind of hunger I am asking about. Are you hungry for the word of God? Are you hungry for the presence of the Lord? Is your desire to learn more about God stronger or greater than your desire for anything else? I will confess that there are many times in my life that I get my eyes shifted off focus. My appetite changes from desiring things of God to desiring things of the world. I have been reminded more and more of this as I have been leading this discipleship course on being a Kingdom Disciple. Dr. Evans is teaching about how we are as children of God being fan’s and cheerleaders for God or are we picking up our crosses daily and counting the cost of what it really means to be a follower of Christ. It costs something to live for Christ. It is not easy to follow Christ. There is risk and hardship that come from being a disciple of Christ.

I did a prayer guide several years ago that lead into the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, as I was going through the website and watching the videos and listening to the stories. I saw hunger. I saw hunger in the people that are being reached with the gospel. I saw a fire that couldn’t be contained, and as many of us have seen here in the last month fire is a powerful thing. Some of these people live in countries where it is illegal to be a Christian or to speak the name of Christ, and they are risking imprisonment or death. Some of these people live in oppressive communities that are dominated by witchcraft or other religions and they are absolutely risking alienating themselves from family and friends to follow Christ, and in some cases risking their lives. They are making huge sacrifices because they are hungry. They have heard the truth and can’t get enough of it. They are not satisfied by the things of the world anymore. It brought joy to my heart to see these stories, but it also brought shame and sadness as I think about my own life. I risk nothing to worship Christ and follow after Him, and my own walk is lukewarm at times. (And it is sad for the church of America as whole, because we tend to spend more time arguing about our own preferences than we do digging deep in the scripture.) We talk more about minor points of theology than we do about winning people to Christ.

So, I ask you again, are you hungry? Because Christ tells us in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.” I want to be filled. I want to know more about Him. I want to pursue Him more than my own interests. I don’t want to be a cheerleader or a fan. I want to be known as a follower who not only proclaims Christ on Sunday but lives Christ every single day. I would challenge you this week to do some reflection and pray for the Lord to reveal in your life where you could make a change, shift a focus and be hungry for His righteousness, for His word, for more of His presence in your life.